


Soldier's Heart

by Dagnabbit



Series: The Life and Times of Jane Doe [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Eventual Romance, Family History, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-07 16:54:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dagnabbit/pseuds/Dagnabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knew Jane Doe was commitably insane. But was he always like that? Probably, but Dell sees past all that, and learns to take him at face value. Be gentle with me, it's my first story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A soldier never cries

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hostile Hospitality](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3216752) by [PugilisticSonofaGun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PugilisticSonofaGun/pseuds/PugilisticSonofaGun). 



     It had been a long day on the battlefield, and Dell Conagher, BLU team Engineer, was exhausted. A soft spoken Texan who long ago traded his teaching job at university to build weapons of mass destruction for the BLU company in the Gravel Pit Wars, he often wondered why he had. Running up and down stairs carrying his toolbox, whacking no-good spies across the back of the head with his Jag and scurrying here and there gathering scrap to keep guns ablaze against the RED tide was very demanding and hard on his body.

     Of course, during quiet times, he sometimes was able to dispatch his chair and have a beer, which always seemed to piss off the Scout when he delivered enemy intelligence, and that always made Dell’s day. But, when he was close to nodding off in the chair, like the man could read his mind, a Spy would sap his precious gun or dispenser, and off he’d be like a dog chasing its tail. Walking back to his tool room, Dell _hrrrumphed_ a bit as he put the heavy toolbox back on the shelf, none too gently. How long had it been, since he had a bit of time off? It seemed like he was whacking spies with his wrench all the time. As much as he knocked the shit out of them they always seemed to come back en force. Well, perhaps Pyro might be persuaded to stick around tomorrow, and he would be able to have a little more peace than usual.

     Walking over to his easy chair, Dell sagged down on weary legs and sank into the soft cushions and sighed with gratitude and thanks that he had this nice cozy spot to relax and think. He didn’t want to think too much tonight, just unwind, perhaps snap his fingers and have one of his pet robots bring him a beer, and catch that sweet nap he had been missing all day, before he headed off to the mess hall. Ah. What a great idea. He reached over to grab his universal remote (and it was universal, it controlled most everything in his shop) and glanced at the buttons on it. There it is, the button for Butler S21…

     WHAM! The noise was enough to cause Dell’s head to snap around and look at the door to his shop. “What in tarnation…?” WHAM! WHAMWHAMWHAM!  “ENGINEER! IT IS APPOXIMATELY 1800 HOURS AND TIME FOR DINNER! FRONT AND CENTER!!” Dear God. That can’t be anyone but Soldier. Sighing again but in a sad, defeated tone, Dell wearily dragged himself up off the chair and headed to the door to his shop.

“Soldier, I can hear jus’ fine. Perhaps you might wanna lower yer voice just a few decibels-“ WHAM WHAM WHAM! “ENGINEER! CAN YOU HEAR ME? RESPOND!”

“Dag-nabbit! I can hear you, you jackass! One damn secon’.” Dell opened the door and there he stood, Jane Doe. In his uniform he was quite an intimidating fellow. In today’s map of Doublecross, Jane had rocket-jumped across the entire field and dashed in the enemy with his shovel while picking up the Intel and launching again back to the base. Screaming like a banshee most of the time, he would drop like an eagle, striking the earth or unfortunate adversary with boots ablaze and smoking, swinging his shovel at anyone who dared defy him. Dell knew the madness consuming Jane had to be a façade, but since when did soldiers get issued rabid raccoons to wear on their uniforms?

“HELLO AGAIN, ENGIE!” Jane yelled at Dell. Dell winced at the booming voice.

“Excuse me, Soldier, I can hear you. You don’t need ta yell.” Dell said. He ignored the nickname Jane had inadvertently used to address him. Heck, he responded to just about anything the guys on his team called him.

“Oh? Hrm.” Jane looked at his feet. He didn’t realize he was yelling. “Engie, on the battlefield, I am used to commanding each and every one of you!”

“Naw, you don’t, we know where we’re goin…”Dell rolled his shoulders back and raised his chin defiantly as Jane cut him off.

“And as such I am used to shouting orders!” Jane assumed a commanding stance.

“We never really do that, I’m always defendin’ and setting up tech, it’s th’ same job I’ve alwa-“

“And good leaders always lead! I intend to keep my command of this rag-tag bunch of maggots! Do you understand?” Soldier looked down at Dell who at this time, was pretty exasperated.

“Dammit all to hell, Soldier! I’m a mercenary, same as you!” Dell threw both arms up in the air in a gesture of futility. “We ain’t in th’ Army! Just a bunch of hard working Mercs. I’m tired! I’ll eat when I’m ready!!” And with that, Dell swiftly turned around, went back inside and slammed the door. As he got settled back in his chair, he kicked back, raised his goggles up off of his face and rubbed his eyes. He was sure he was pretty dirty when he withdrew his hands and saw the dirt rings from where his goggles had been.

     Looking around for his universal remote, he then pressed the button to summon his robot butler. He was especially proud of this little fellow. It looked a little like a helicopter in miniature with telescoping grappling hooks and it was fairly sentient, but he had the presence of mind to not give it a vocabulary. The last thing he wanted to hear was another voice.

“Be a good fella and fetch me a beer, will ya?” Dell said to the hovering robot. It beeped affirmatively and whizzed off in the air. Rap rap rap! Someone at the door again? Grumbling under his breath, he once again drug himself out of his chair, and stomped towards his door.

“All right, whaddya want?” he half-shouted, hauling the door open exasperatingly.

“Engineer, I…I am sorry...” Jane said, twiddling his thumbs and looking down at his dirty boots. “It’s just that…I was...I mean-I’m sorry. For... infringing on your domicile!” Jane looked up from his boots to Dell’s eyes. And did a quick double-take. It wasn’t often that Dell removed his goggles, and it was a bit of a shock to Jane. Dell was quite a handsome man when he wasn’t outfitted for battle. He looked back down at his boots again, and sniffed. He suddenly felt like a fool to have come and interrupted a man who clearly didn’t want company.

     Dell caught every movement on Jane’s face, causing him to smile a little bit and crinkled up the corners of his eyes. Might as well give him a bit of a show. And Dell appreciated the apology. Something about the suddenly humble Soldier made Dell feel sorry he had blown up at the man. He seemed very sincere, and as deluded has he was, he wasn't hiding anything.

“Aw, that’s ok. Sometimes it’s hard to drop a battle and unwind.”

“You mean debrief. You debrief after an engagement with the enemy!” Jane said, smiling at Dell. “Yes. It is hard to let go of battle when the enemy has his tail between his legs and retreating in utter defeat! We must-“

     The Butler S21 carrying its payload whizzed in and hovered near Dell’s head. Jane stared at it. “What is that? It’s an enemy drone! AAAGGGHH!” And with that, Soldier tore at the butler, trying to sweep the robot out of the air, and smashing down on Dell’s yellow helmet. Dell sputtered,”W-what? No! What in tarnation? That’s my robot, Soldier! Stand down!”

     And just like that, Soldier backed off, however a little hesitant to cease pursuing the hovering robot, which had evaded capture by flying upwards into the rafters.

“C’mere, S21! It’s ok. No one’s gonna get ya.” Dell said, hand outstretched. The hovering robot lowered the beer into Dell’s palm, and then buzzed into the back of the shop.

“That is your drone? That is amazing, Engie!” Jane exclaimed. He seemed entirely enchanted by the way the robot had timidly performed the command and then shyly disappeared. He smiled at Dell, and Dell again had recognized that the Soldier, while being reactive and unpredictable and sometimes downright obnoxious, could be amicable. Dell looked down at his feet. The attention from Jane had him flustered.

“Aw, it ain’t nothin’. I like to build things, is all,” He took a swig of beer from the bottle and then caught himself. “Jeeze, where are my manners? Would you like a drink? Would you like to come in?”

     If a deer in the headlights wasn’t shocked enough, Dell was sure Soldier was. The man looked like he had a spotlight on him. “Uh…really? I may enter the premises?”

“Well, iffin you wanna. I was just going to sit a spell and relax a bit. The best thing about a beer is sharing one,” Dell winked at Jane. And Jane came in.

     Inside the shop was a wide array of tools, projects, and tables, and many surfaces were covered in papers and blueprints. Notes were written in almost every corner of blank paper. Telescopes, gun barrels, and all sorts of parts and pieces littered the area. Jane was all eyes. He had taken off his confederate cap, and Dell could see the flattop haircut and the scruffy close-cut beard the military man had taken up wearing recently. He was glad his new friend was comfortable enough to take off his cap and visit a bit.

“Have a seat, Soldier” Dell said. Jane looked at the comfy chair and recognized it as Engineer’s, and took a seat on the hard wooden bench opposite the floor. Dell appreciated that, and plopped down into his chair, momentarily forgetting his previous exhaustion.

“How about that beer, Soldier?” Dell said to Jane. Jane nodded, again unsure of himself in this new territory. He was afraid to touch anything in this room. There were a lot of shiny metal parts and papers everywhere. “Don’t mind the mess. Hell, I’ve never minded it. Let me show you how it’s done.” Dell picked up the remote again and pressed the button. The Butler S21 whizzed into the room.

“Butler, please retrieve a beer for our guest,” Dell said. The compliant robot flew off, and returned shortly, with another glass bottle of beer. It flew to Dell. “No, for our guest,” Dell said. The robot hesitated, then glided over to Jane and beeped questioningly at him.

“Thanks, soldier’” Jane said, as he reached for the beer. The robot jumped in the air and the beer crashed to the floor.

“Dammit! What in Sam Hill? Now you go git in there an’ get another beer for our guest!” Dell exclaimed, sitting upright in his chair and swearing at his robot. It whizzed off again, but didn’t return. “Dag-nabbit,” Dell muttered under his breath.

“No, it’s ok, Engie. I’ll go get one. I think I scared him,” Jane said. He stood up and walked into the other room where the refrigerator was. The little robot was struggling with the handle of the fridge. “Oh! Let me help you, little fella!” Jane said. He reached for the robot and then saw that its grappling hook was caught in the door. He gently removed the hook and the robot, once freed, retracted its line and whizzed off into the dark back rooms. Jane opened the fridge and grabbed his own beer, and looked for a towel and a broom to clean up the mess. Where was it? There didn’t seem to be anything personal at all in this shop, other than Dell’s chair and the refrigerator. He walked back into the main room.

“Engie, I couldn’t find-“Jane started to say, but was surprised to see the mess being cleaned up by another robot. This one was a purely terrain-based robot. It scooted around on the floor, sucking up spilled beer and broken glass, and making a bit of a racket. Jane stared. All this robotic technology impressed him, and he again wondered why he was here wasting this brilliant man’s time.

“Aw, you like this one? He’s my floor cleaning robot. He’s one of my earlier models. I meant for him to just be a retriever of dropped bolts an’ such, but he’s real good at vacuumin’.” Dell said, stretching out on his chair.

Jane relaxed. As he sat down at the bench, he remarked, ”It’s too bad you don’t have one to tidy up all the tables in here,”

“Naw, just as well,” Dell said. “I’d never be able to find a damn thing if the robots cleaned the entire shop.” Dell and Jane looked at each other. Jane averted his eyes, and Dell chucked a little.

“Do you want ta listen to some music?”

     Jane perked up. “Affirmative! I often listen to good old American anthems! None of that hippie feel-good music that boy listens to in the barracks!”

“Well, I am fresh outta anthems, I think, but I do have some classical to listen to. Will that do?” Dell asked. Jane nodded. Dell pressed another button on his universal remote and suddenly, a low note eased into the room, followed by a quartet of strings and several soothing instrumental sounds. Dell eased back into his chair and shut his eyes.

     This particular piece always brought him home in his mind, back to Bee cave, Texas. Back on the farm. A storm on the horizon, low thunder rumbling far in the distance. As if on cue, outside the shop, rain began to patter down on the tin roof. But the sound system in the shop was well placed, and the rain did little but accentuate the music. Dell sighed. He could almost smell the rain, and see the pastures of home in his mind. So peaceful.

     Jane sat still, frozen by the music. An altogether different scene was being played out in his head. When he was younger, he had headed to Poland to fight Nazis. When he came back to the States after discovering the war had been over for years, he had returned home only to find that his military father had moved on without leaving a forwarding address. He was sure lonely after that, and had lived on the streets.

     One particularly cold night, he had found a cardboard box in an alleyway and climbed in to warm up. There was some excited squeaking coming from the far end of the box and curious, Jane whistled lightly to the noise. Out of the dark corner crept a baby raccoon cub. His little eyes had been barely been opened a day before his mama had hidden him in the box for safety as she scavenged for leavings in the trash. Apparently, she never returned for some reason or another, but Jane gently picked the cub up, and from that day forward, the raccoon was Jane’s new family.

     He sat in Dell’s shed, the little tool shop, and reminisced about the past as the rain came down and the music led on. Lieutenant Bites, he had named the little cub. He had many adventures with that cute little raccoon. They were best friends, brothers of a sort. Both abandoned by family through purpose and accident. One fateful summer, however, as Jane was finding work as a security guard at the local park, Lt. Bites had been playing with some squirrels they had happened across.

     One of the animals was rather aggressive toward the raccoon though, and had played extra hard with the little fellow. Lieutenant Bites squealed in pain after the third bought of wrestling with the squirrel and Jane decided that had to have been enough horseplay. Soon after, Lieutenant Bites became ill and irritable. Panic-stricken, Jane took him to the wildlife sanctuary where the vet on duty examined the poor raccoon. The animal was deemed rabid and was put down.

     In a fit of despair, he had the animal stuffed, and wore him on his suit at all times. The crazy little biter was Jane’s only friend. Jane sniffed again, this time swallowing thickly around tears he refused to let go. What kind of man weeps over the past? He stiffened his spine and sat up straighter. “Engie?” he said, looking over to the easy chair. The Engineer was fast asleep. His head rolled back on his neck and a soft snore escaped his lips. Jane stood up quietly, gazed at the man respite in his chair for a minute or two, and slipped out the door silently, into the rainy night.


	2. A soldier never backs down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dell learns a little more about Jane and his raccoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't help but write this. I hope you all bear with me. If you see anything redundant in it drop me a line, it's been a while since I've written anything purely for entertainment!

 

The next day found Dell Conagher up to his eyes in Spies. RED Spy, in particular, had taken a perverse desire in luring the Engineer to a false sense of security and sapping the level three sentries every time Dell made a run for his dispenser to gather more supplies. Every time the Pyro would run through, Dell begged him to do a spycheck. With an affirmative, muffled reply the Pyro would do a cursory run through all the corners and disappear with his precious, spy deterring flamethrower. Dell sighed. It looked like another heavy day of Spy-smacking and suspicious Scout shooting. Everyone running into the Intel at Doublecross had to evade the Engineers quick draw and multiple shots.

“Yow! Hey man! What the Hell?” Scout shouted as Dell fired at him for the umpteenth time. “Sorry,” Dell replied, holstering his pistol and unrolling his blueprints again. “It’s just been so thick with Spies ‘round here…”

“Oh yeah, tell me about it. Sometimes before I even know it that RED bastard stabs me in the back. It’s like he can read my mind or somethin’. Kinda like how my Dad always seems to know what I’m doin’…”Scout’s voice trailed off and Engineer looked uncomfortably away as a ghost of realization washed over Scout’s face, and  then just as quickly, the boy dismissed the thought. “Anyway, gotta go! Smell ya later, hard hat!” And with a hop the Scout was off like a shot.

Dell shook his head as he resumed reading the blueprint and then, with a look over his shoulder to check that the Intel was still rotating slowly on the floor, gave an exasperated sigh. No idea why the damn thing did that. Make it harder to grab, or something?

………………………..

Jane Doe had respawned after blowing up the RED Demoman and himself in the basement of the RED intel. Once he refocused his mind and made sure all of his parts were in order (respawn can be so disorienting!) Jane stalked out the door with his rocket launcher cradled on his neck and he turned to run to the battlement. However, he remembered his visit with Engineer and wondered what his new friend was up to. So he went to the left instead and happily jumped down to the ground, heading for the rounded entryway to the Intel.

As he rounded the corner, a tirade of insults and excited exclamations peppered his ears. The Engineer, red-faced and sweaty, was running circuits around the intel, swinging his wrench and firing his pistol. Jane looked quizzically at Dell.

“What?! Hey! You Spy!” Dell shouted in surprise when he saw Jane staring at him, jaw dropped. Dell turned his pistol at Jane and fired multiple, rapid shots. When he saw Jane hadn’t flinched and the shots seemed to pass right through him, Dell realized Jane was indeed his teammate.

Respawn, when it was online completely, protected the teams from accidently killing each other. The one thing it could not do was protect the Engineers from their sentries, as the sentries were independent of the online system. They had to be, as to remain portable, but Dell always thought that if you were stupid enough to stand in front of your own gun you deserved to get your ass shot off.

Another theory that Dell harbored about respawn technology and the problem of killing the other team was that RED technology was based on a similar but different concept of time and space. Due to the time lag between the storage buffers and matter converter, every person on the same team was just a nanosecond out of phase with their teammates, allowing them to shoot at each other and never make a hit. However due to the opposing side’s tech being of a different nature, their bullets always hit home. But this only applied in a respawn covered map. Once you were out and about in the civilian world, this marvel of physics did not apply.

Sentries were respawned with Engineers and stored in the same buffer, so that its weaponry was always in sync with the Engineer who built it. No matter if the gun survived its builder, the Engineer was always in sync with the gun, and its deadly bullets.

Dell wanted to explore this concept more and work with Medic on making a portable Spawn, but that was a project on the back burner. Right now, his main issue was a Spy infestation.

“Ah. I’m sorry, Soldier. I thought perhaps ya was a Spy in disguise,” Dell explained. Jane nodded.

“You are having problems with spies?” Jane asked, innocently enough, because as a warrior of missiles and hand held weapons he was often on the front line as the heavy hitter when it came to a charge attack. He didn’t even think about the Engineer’s job.

“Yeah, th’ tricky little bastards, they always seem ta get the better of me,” Dell turned around. He was the only Engineer in the Intel. “The problem with defendin’ is that it’s awful damn hard ta do it yourself,”

Jane glanced around. The sentry stood in the corner, triple-beeping its scan as it rotated back and forth. Dell stood next to his dispenser, basking in the healing radiation emanating from it.

“Engineer, I will help you defend!” Jane concluded. “I will keep watch over the back entryway and you and your sentry can watch the front!”

“Well, I don’t see a problem in that…” Dell trailed off. It never hurt to have a second pair of eyes in the Intel, and since he couldn’t convince the Pyro to stick around, a rocket jockey was the next best thing. Plus, it did get awful lonely and disparaging when the only folk who visited you were the ones you didn’t want in the Intel in the first place.

The next few hours were great fun for Jane. He had never realized how thrilling it was to fire at a suspicious sound and see an instant explosion of blood and body parts appear out of thin air. Sometimes teammates came by and checked on Engie, more often than not, they ran through, dropping off the Intel from the enemy base without so much as a glance at the two of them.

Jane stood up on the upper level, looking down at Dell’s equipment like an eagle surveying the land. Sometimes teammates showed up and shared a little friendly banter. Sometimes teammates were awfully interested in the Engineer’s sentry or dispenser. Those Jane shot at, and sometimes he was again rewarded with the explosive death of an enemy Spy. The Spies always let out a surprised sound when they exploded. It was great fun and Engie had even taken up a running tally of who killed the most Spies.

When the day was done, Dell and Jane strolled back to the BLU base camp together, laughing and joking about the day they had in the Intel, defending together. It was a unique experience as each got to see what the other was capable of. Dell found himself in a better mood for it, and Jane felt a little less alone in the world.

Dinnertime found the BLU team celebrating happily in the mess hall. Pyro was the cook for the week, and he was always one for making sweets and barbeque. Dell and Jane sat down to a meal of baked potatoes on the grill, barbeque ribs and roasted corn on the cob.

“Woo-hoo!” Dell exclaimed, looking over the spread with his tray in hand. This was one of his favorite meals, and the perfect ending to a successful day. “Pyro, you are one helluva cook! Thanks, partner!”

“Mmmph mmph mmphrr!” Pyro replied, and loaded Dell’s tray with plenty of chow. Dell took it as a token of thanks. He could only understand Pyro if he was fully paying attention. The Scout, who was standing next to Jane and Dell, cleared his throat a little.

“Pyro says Jane’s your partner.” Scout hooted out.

You could have heard a pin drop. Everybody shut up and looked at Jane and Dell. Jane again had the deer-in-the headlights look. Dell looked up from his tray and saw that everyone on the team was looking expectantly at the two of them.

“Well, hell, he is!” Dell exclaimed. Raucous laughter filled the room. Scout in the middle of it all, laughing obnoxiously. Spy snorting as he smoked. Sniper hacking out laughter like a crow. Demo spitting out Scrumpy and busting his gut. Heavy bellowing guffaws and Medic chuckling as he tut-tutted his heavy counterpart. Dell, after putting the meanings of the words Scout said in a different context, blushed a dark shade of red, but then, he started chuckling too. It was pretty funny. Jane however, didn’t get the mirth. Soldiers often fight shoulder to shoulder.

“Fighting front to back is the American way!” Jane shouted at the team. “Furthermore, I WAS WATCHING ENGIE”S BACK THE ENTIRE TIME!” Even harder guffaws and hacking laughter. Christ, Scout was coughing he was laughing so hard.

“I bet you were, chucklenuts! Did you use your ‘rocket launcher’ while watching his back?” Scout chortled out.

“NOBODY ELSE WAS WATCHING HIS BACK BUT ME! I USED MY ROCKET LAUNCHER THE ENTIRE TIME!” More laughter at Jane’s expense. Dell, after wiping tears from his eyes, had finally saw that Jane was not enjoying the joke like the other guys. In fact, he looked kind of like he was gonna-

“I WILL SHOW YOU HOW I USE MY WEAPONS!” Jane charged at the Scout and picked him up with one hand, immediately clamping down on Scouts’ neck.

“Hey-hey-hey-hey! Hey! Hey Jane, Jane, its ok…” Dell had gotten between the red-faced scout and the angry Soldier. He put both hands on Jane’s outstretched arm and pushed down. Facing Dell, Jane refocused on Dell and dropped the kid. The Scout landed hard on his butt and scooted back, coughing. “Asshole! Don’t you ever EVER try that again! I will bash ya!”  Wind-milling his arms, he managed to get to his feet and shakily backed away. He went next to the Demo, who looked at him and nodded.

A little disconcerted by his teammate’s indifference to Jane’s feelings, Dell looked Jane right in the eye.

“Ya did good today, son,” he said. Jane’s eyes were hard set, and steel-blue. He had the look of a killer, a hard core son-of-a-gun who would shoot, and shoot, and shoot until there were no more enemy to shoot at. But the longer Dell met his gaze, the more Jane seemed to come back to reality.

Dell looked away briefly. He motioned to Pyro. “Can we get our dinners to go?” Pyro had already been ahead of the situation and presented Dell with two foil wrapped plates. Scout already was back in line, but his mouth wasn’t running at least.

“Thanks, Pyro,” Dell said. Pyro again “mmrrphed” a reply, but before Scout could speak up, Pyro shoved Scout backwards and put cookies in front of him. The Scout happily started stuffing his mouth, forgetting teasing Jane to further trouble. Dell placed the two foil-wrapped plates in Jane’s hands and guided him outside the mess hall and toward the tool shed.

…………………………….

 

 

In the sanctuary of the shop, Dell and Jane enjoyed their meals and each other’s company. Butler S21 flew back and forth between the two and the fridge, ferrying beer and the plates back and forth from the meals. Jane was still quite enchanted with the little robot, and Dell just watched the man, secretly enjoying the way Jane stared at the little robot. He had such a gentle visage, yet there was a ruggedness to his looks that promised he could deal a hard hand if he had to.

“Quite a day, huh?” Dell asked, breaking the silence. It had not been awkward at all, both men were comfortable and the squabble in the mess long forgotten.

“Affirmative!” Jane stated. “I enjoyed defending the intelligence very much!”

“What’s your fighting style like, Soldier?” Dell asked. Jane straightened up in his seat.

“I employ a ground and air attack! Death from above! The enemy doesn’t stand a chance against me!” Jane exclaimed proudly. Dell whistled appreciatively. He already knew how soldiers fought in the Gravel Pit Wars, but he really didn’t know enough about Jane to ask much else. Except for that one thing…

“What’s the deal with your raccoon?” Dell asked. Jane went from smiling from ear to ear, to looking like his ice cream cone fell on the sidewalk. He visibly deflated.

“Uhhh. Uhm. That is my raccoon. This is Lieutenant Bites!” Jane unclipped the stuffed raccoon from his uniform and held it up, proudly.

Dell blinked. “Uh. U-uh…Yeah! Yep, that is one cute little critter! Uh-huh! Yeah...” Jane held out the dead raccoon for Dell to pet. Dell made sure to use his gloved hand to pet the proffered varmint. Gently, he said,”Jane. You know he’s dead, right?”

Jane looked offended. “I know nothing of the sort! Lt. Bites is a lively animal! He is always by my side! Aren’t you, my little fluffy coony-woony? Who is a viligant little soldier? You are! Yes!” And Jane proceeded to cuddle the dead animal, baby-talking to it and petting him on the head. Dell was a little concerned. Lt. Bites’ corpse had seen better days. Jane had petted a bald spot onto its leathery gray head. Dell shuddered.

“How about we head out tonight? It’s a full moon and Snipes and Pyro often have a bonfire on the edge of the base. We can have a few beers, and play music…”

Jane instantly snapped out of his raccoon obsession. He met Dell’s eyes again.

“Really? You guys want me to hang around?” Dell was visibly relieved to get Jane off the subject of Schrödinger’s raccoon.

“Of course! I wouldn’t have invited ya’ if I didn’t want ya’ to come along,” Dell said. Jane was thrilled. Often his nights were filled with polishing his boots, arranging his medals on a clean pressed uniform and trying to get Lt. Bites to calm down so that he could get some sleep. He pretended to always be busy with maintaining his military schedule, but in truth, he spent a lot of nights, sleepless quiet, and lonely nights, contemplating his life and the short life of Lt. Bites. It’s a good thing he had him stuffed. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have anybody. Except now, he had Dell.

“Certainly! I will take you up on that offer, Engie!” Dell chuckled, grabbed his brown cowboy hat and truck keys, guitar case and motioned for Jane to grab the remote.

“Jest’ press the red button on the top,” Dell explained. Jane looked at the universal remote. The red button was labeled, “S21”. He pressed it. Suddenly, Butler S21 whizzed into the room.

“Butler S21! Please bring the ice chest to the front door! With some ice in it please!” Dell said. The little robot beeped in compliance and flew out. It returned momentarily, dragging a white chest across the floor on little wheels. Dell took the handle of the chest after passing the guitar to Jane. “Can you grab the other side, partner?” Dell asked. Jane smiled.

Together they hoisted up the chest and walked it out the back door of the shop, and to the old truck Dell kept for supply runs. Dell checked to make sure the little robot had indeed, filled the chest with ice, and on the way to the far end of the base, they stopped by the mess hall, and Dell went inside, leaving Jane in the passenger’s side of the cab. He returned, carrying a case of beer and Pyro was with him, carrying another case, this one of soda pop. They put the contents in the chest, and Pyro jumped in the back, rapping on the outside of the cab that he was ready to go. The truck revved up and spun around, taking the trio to the outskirts where Sniper and his van camped on the border of the base.

 


	3. A  Fire in the Breast of the Warrior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane confides his fears to Dell.

“When the days seem long,

And the trail is dusty,

And the sun, she burns my brow,

I keep on dreamin’

Of the day we got together,

In the spring of 1949…. Yeee Haw!”

Strumming out the final chords, Dell sang with a great melody in his voice that belied his Texan roots. He played his guitar while Pyro clapped and hopped next to him. The sun had set hours ago, but the bonfire that Pyro tended with care kept the party in a good mood. Sniper clapped too, he was thoroughly enjoying the show. Whistling along, the Sniper, while being a loner most of the time, was really quite a gentleman, who seemed to know everything about everyone.

Jane was really enjoying himself. This was a new thing for him, a fire with no purpose but to set the stage for his new friends to entertain one another? He couldn’t remember ever having this much fun, outside of war. Well, other than robbing chicken coops and people’s gardens as he and Lieutenant Bites eked out a living in between short-lived jobs.

Pyro ran to the van and brought out another round of drinks for everyone. He brought Jane another beer. “Thanks!” Jane said. Pyro nodded and went around the fire, delivering everyone a beer, but a kept a soda for himself. Either he really liked soda or he was the designated driver. Jane wasn’t sure, but he was happy none the less. Dell and Sniper were talking a bit together and laughing, then Dell passed the guitar to Sniper, who started strumming, “Waltzing Matilda” and humming in his low, rumbly voice. It was a pleasant night.

Dell got up and stretched. It was Friday night, and since their status was up today, the BLU team had weekend liberty. He walked to the other side of the fire where a log had been spared from the firebug. He sat next to Jane and sighed.

“Well, how’d you like the song?” Dell asked Jane. Jane smiled at his friend.

“Well-played, Engie! I didn’t know you knew so many songs!” Jane grinned, and the fire was twinkling in his eyes.

“Aw, shucks,” Dell said. The Soldier had a ruddy glow to his cheeks, and looked incredibly relaxed. If anyone needed this, it was Jane. He was so uptight all of the time, but the longer Dell got to know the man, the more he seemed…lost. Like he didn’t know his place anywhere except in battle. It seemed a sad existence, and the Engineer was happy that he could provide a new window into Jane’s world.

“I don’t suppose…” Jane suddenly looked down at his beer. Dell cocked his head questioningly. Jane looked like a little boy all of the sudden, shy, downcast. Dell felt a warm flush in his heart. What was bothering his friend?

“What?” Dell asked softly. He was giving Jane his full attention. If Jane would only look over at him, he would see Dell staring openly, with his handsome baby blues, giving all of his attention to him. But Jane looked sideways, not quite meeting Dell’s eyes.

“Um, since you know so many songs,” Jane started, then stopped.

“Yes?”

“Um, maybe. Uh, we could sing ‘America, the Beautiful’?” Jane stammered, finally looking up at Dell. Dell’s attention turned to processing what Jane was asking, and that small sliver of loving light disappeared briefly. Jane had missed it.

“Oh, sure can, partner!” Dell got up and walked to the other side of the fire, where Sniper had quietly stopped his rendition, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He was far from home, and the song he had played was a reminder that walkabouts indeed take you far from home and family. Without a word mentioned but the feeling noted, the guitar passed from one countryman to the other, and the Engineer stood proud, with the fire brightly burning in front of him, and started to sing.

“O beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain….” Dell’s voice rolled through the words like butter on hot biscuits, he really had a magical voice.

“OH PURPLE MOUNTAIN MAJESTIES ABOVE THY FRUITED PLAIN!-“

Dell winced. Jane sang like he talked. However, he had a lot of spirit in his voice, and if anyone loved America, it was Jane Doe. Without missing a beat they continued.

“AMERICA! AMERICA! GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEEEEEE!

AND CROWN THY GOOD,

WITH BROTHERHOOOOOD,

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEAAAAAA!”

“Ha ha ha ha hahh! That is it! Wonderful!” Jane was beaming at Dell. And again, Dell’s heart skipped lightly. This man was really, truly a beautiful sort. And Dell was falling.

“Jeez, you tryin’ ta wake the dead over here?” A voice spoke out in the darkness. The trio stopped what they were doing and looked towards the voice. Scout walked into the circle of light. Pyro hopped up and ran over to give him a hug. “Hey, yeah, happy to see you too, buddy!” Scout returned the hug and laughing, stepped past Engie and Soldier and sat next to Sniper.

“Was wonderin’ if you’d show up, mate,” Sniper said, lighting a pipe and blowing out a couple of rings.

“Yeah, I had’ta stop by the Medic’s office,” Scout said, rubbing his throat lightly.

“Mrrph mrrph mrph myrrph mrph.” stated Pyro.

“Well I don’t care what he thinks. It was damn funny to the rest of us!” Scout countered.

Pyro giggled and grabbed a soda for Scout, who accepted it after being turned down for a beer. Pyro seemed to know that alcohol would only make the Scout that much more obnoxious.

Scout for the most part, was a good kid, but as most guys his age go, they really don’t have the social experience necessary to handle everyday situations with grace. In tactfulness he was lacking, but he had a good spirit and brought with him another facet to the evening.

The party wore on into the night. Dell had blankets in the bed of his truck, and these he laid on the ground, next to the fire, so that if someone wanted, they could lay down and look up at the night sky. Jane did just that. After a bit of kidding around, Dell laid next to him and looked up at the sky. Jane had been quiet for a while, and Dell was afraid that the man had fallen asleep.

He laid there, listening to the others talking around the fire, wondering if he should go get a pillow for the soldier, but Jane surprised him by asking a question and breaking the stillness around them.

“What happens when we die, Engie?”

Dell was quiet a minute. He rolled over on his side to face Jane, who was still on his back, looking straight up at the stars.

“Well, the jury’s still out on that one,” Dell said. When he noticed Jane had turned his questioning look directly at him, he realized he’d have to be a bit plainer in his answer.

“Folk don’t rightly know, Jane. Some say, you go to heaven, others who do bad go to hell.”

“But what happens to you?” Jane had that lost boy look again, and was speaking in such a small voice, that Dell felt he had entered a fragile territory. Perhaps he had. This could be the window into Jane where he could see the man for what he was, not the lunatic most saw, but the lonely soul he definitely was.

“You want to know what I think.” Dell spoke softly, his rolling voice carrying a note of golden empathy. “When I was small, my Grandpappy was the strongest man I knew. He was Grandpa Conagher, the smartest, most genius inventor in the world! Well, my world anyway” Dell chuckled, and Jane smiled, but never lost the seriousness in his eyes as he listened to Dell tell his story.

“Grandpa raised me ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. He was my father, my guiding light. And I loved him more than anyone in the whole, wide world,” Dell smiled, his thoughts faraway to the old man he dearly loved.

“One day though, when I was coming home from school, there was a sheriff and an ambulance parked in front of our farmhouse. I got real scared then. I dropped my books and ran like the wind toward the house.

“I saw the paramedics loading up Grandpa in the back of their wagon. He looked real sick. I ran up to him and asked what happened.” Dell paused, thinking back to that day. It was like a film in his mind, and he wasn’t in it, but watching it on a movie screen. “Grandpa opened his eyes and looked at me. And the world, well, it seemed to stop.” Dell hesitated. “He said to me that his heart had ran out. There weren’t that many beats left in it, but it was ok, because Grandma Conagher was with him and was waiting for him to get up and go.”

“Was she waiting in the car?” Jane asked, innocently. His face was all eyes. It seemed he could see the movie Dell was playing in his mind.

“No,” said Dell. “no, she wasn’t waiting in the car. She was waiting on the other side of the veil. You see, she had been gone from Grandpappy for 15 years ‘afore I was with him. She was dead.”

Jane’s’ eyes widened. Dell’s had gotten a bit misty. He blinked rapidly to clear them.

An audible gasp in the darkness off to their left towards the fire broke the spell. Dell and Jane turned suddenly in unison toward the noise. There, piled up like coconuts, were Pyro, Scout, and Sniper, all in rapt attention, listening in on Dell’s memory.

“She was a ghost? Holy crap!” Scout crossed himself.

Pyro shivered, and mumbled something. Sniper looked embarrassed to be caught eavesdropping.

Dell stood up and threw this hat at them. “Dammit all to hell! Who said you guys were invited to th’ discussion?” Scout laughed as he jumped way, Pyro scuttled to the fire to grab another soda and Sniper muttered something about getting cold feet as he dusted off his pants and headed for the log by the fire. Dell, with an angry scowl, went and picked up his hat, but as he listened to his friends chuckling and playing around, the anger dissipated. The warmth of his love for his Grandpappy was still in him. He brushed the sand off of it, and placed it back on his head.

When he turned to look at Jane, he saw the man was no longer reclining on the ground, but sitting, with his knees to his chest, his strong arms wrapped around them, resting his head. Dell walked back over and sat next to him.

“Jane?”

The soldier didn’t move. Dell got closer.

“Jane? You ok?”

“I don’t know.” The man wouldn’t lift his head. Dell looked off into the darkness. The moon was up, and everything on the plain stood out in ghostly blues and greys. Somewhere off in the distance, a coyote yowled. Scout answered in kind, and there was laughter. Dell ignored them.

“Whatever is bothering ya’, you know you can tell me,” Dell waited patiently. If Jane had no more to say, that was fine too. But he didn’t want him to leave this night with a bad feeling.

“I always wondered what became of us when we die,” Jane whispered. Dell said nothing.

“B-because if the ones we love leave us…I don’t know, but I don’t want to go anywhere if they aren’t there.” Jane’s voice trembled. His voice squeaked and broke, and Dell kept quiet. His hand though, had moved from the grass to Jane’s back. He didn’t move it, but he felt the soldier tremble.

“My raccoon, my precious little one. I could not bear it if he wasn’t there when I die,” whispered Jane. And he drew in a deep, shuddering breath. Dell spoke softly.

“Jane, if I ever learned anything from my Grandpappy, any one thing at all, it’s that love, no matter how big or small, or from animal or man or woman, never dies. You hear me?” He leaned down and looked into Jane’s eyes. Tears rolled down Jane’s’ face as he met the Texan’s gaze. Dell swallowed again.

“You hear me? I’m saying, that true love, compassionate, unconditional love, never dies. Whatever you feel, whether it be fear, or anger, or any of those things, none of that matters, because love survives death, Jane! My Grandma was there, waiting for Grandpappy. Because of love. He often said to me, ‘Dell, I believe I felt your Grandma in the garden today”, And Dell looked away. The memory was intense, and he needed a minute to recover his voice.

The moon passed through the sky, the stars that were brightest, shone.

“And Jane, I believe he did. Because of love.”

Jane sat quietly as Dell rubbed his back a little. He looked down at his side where the sad little caricature of a raccoon hung from his coat. He unclipped it from his belt, and held it close.

No more was said that night. But Dell stayed by Jane’s side until the sun rose.


	4. The Warrior's Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dell's bright idea and Jane realizing he might not have much time left with the late lt. Bites.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. OC that tacofortresstoo on Tumblr came up with is in this. He is a BLU spy by the name of Tristan. Sorry, but since she's been my proofreader her spy gets a cameo shot. And I put my pyro loadout in here. I love this game, and this is a fanfiction after all! Hope you enjoy!  
> P.P.S. I don't own Valve or TF2...just thought I'd lay that out there...  
> Enjoy the story. We are getting close to the end, but not quite there yet :)

The next week had brought a new map to fight in. Teufort was a highly trafficked town with a remote place where gravel was mined, and the barns and fields were empty most of the time. A lot of the locals had left when RED and BLU began testing rockets to get “Poopy Joe”, the celebrity space chimp, off of the ground.  The monkey survived every faulty blast, but a lot of families took the easy way to get out of the blast area by selling the farmland to the Mann Company.

Rumor had it that “Poopy Joe” was one of Medic’s special experiments. Dell believed that because the Respawn technology was designed by none other than Dell’s beloved Grandpappy. He had found the key to extending human life, Medic employed it by ubering monkey hearts in specialized surgery. With extensive monkey, ape, and man testing, Medic had become proficient in ultimate survival of the human being. Grandpappy knew though, that extending a life beyond the “beats your heart had in it”, weren’t natural at all. So he had declined the surgery when the opportunity presented itself.

Dell, however, benefitted respawn as much as his teammates did. And with the question of love outlasting life answered for Jane, Dell felt that he needed to do something special for the man. He had an idea, one so brilliant and crazy it was all he could do to keep from rushing to Jane to tell him all about it. It had to be a surprise. And he needed advice from the Medic.

It was early morning, and Dell made his way to the Medic’s office. He knew the man was up early, it was the only time he and the Heavy had together. Everyone on the team knew the couple were an item, but still, the two liked their privacy and Dell respected them for it. He didn’t know if his interest in Jane would ever be reciprocated, but he genuinely felt a gentle love for him, which surprised the engineer. Before he got to know him, he was a batshit insane killer who fired dangerously close to everybody and everything. He knew now, though, how gentle his heart really was.

He had finally made it to the remote office Medic kept. When he knocked, a voice inside announced, “Ja, who is it?”

“Dell. I need to speak with ya, doc!”

“Ja, ja come in, bitte!”

Dell opened the door. Heavy was bustling about the office, dusting the books and squaring away papers. The Medic was seated behind the desk (well, folded was more the term, he was so tall) in his grey pullover vest and white undershirt, tucked into his trousers and his boots laced up. He was reading some medical journal, and taking notes. He glanced over his spectacles at the Engineer as Dell took a seat. He finished his writing and put the pen down, and pushed the spectacles up his nose while he cleared his throat.

“Vat can I do for you, Herr Conagher?” Medic smiled gently at his friend. The two had been good friends for years while Dell finished school after the death of his Grandpappy. They worked together on the systems that kept them alive, but while the Medic understood the organic syncope and matter translation of the machine, Dell only understood the technical specs.

“Well, I got a bit of a problem,” began Dell. Together, the two scientists began hatching a plan.

…………………………………

When Dell went by the mess hall, he peeked to see if the BLU spy was lurking about. He didn’t see the man, but he did see his friends at one of the tables eating together and joking about the Demo’s cooking. It was his turn to cook for the week, and Demo enjoyed it very little, but still managed to keep everyone fed. If you liked boiled vegetables and boiled meat, that is.

Dell guessed that it was easier for the Demoman to put everything in a heavy pot and cook it for days. The result, while not visibly appealing, was fairly tasty and at least wholesome. It would be eight more weeks though, before Pyro again was spoiling everyone with fresh baked cakes, pies, and delicious barbeques. Dell’s turn was after the Demo’s week was up. He looked forward to that, because he planned excellent meals that rivaled Pyros’, but it was always nice to not have to cook the food but enjoy it nonetheless.

Dell came in and grabbed a bowl of “Demostew”, a fresh slab of buttered bread, and went to sit with Scout, Sniper and Jane.

“Great crap today, Demo!” Scout shouted. Demo was already in his cups though, and thanked Scout for his praise. “Aye, that ‘tis, mate!” he slurred, tipping his bottle and swigging the whisky.

“Haw, cripes. It’s amazing he ain’t dead yet. I bet Medic has had to grow him like, four replacement livers so far!” Scout guffawed at his own joke. Sniper smiled at him over his cup of coffee and slab of bread with butter and jam. He had taken a delicate bite of it, and Dell imagined that would be all he’d eat. The man was so thin he could slip through the floorboards.

“Hey, Solly!” Dell cheerfully addressed his friend. Jane smiled at the nickname Dell had taken to calling him.

“Hey Engie! The chow is pretty great today! SOS, what we in the Army like to call Sh-“

“Aww, Comon! I’m eatin’ here! Jeeze!” Scout cut off Jane, pulling a long face and hanging his tongue out.

“It-on-a-Shingle! Yes, this is good old American Cuisine! Just like Mother used to make!” Jane pushed Scout’s plate closer to the boy. “Eat up son! It’ll put meat on your bones! God knows you need it!” And with that, Jane shoved his piece of bread coated with the gloppy meaty vegetable slop into Scouts’ still-open mouth. The kid about turned inside out, and everyone at the table had a good hard laugh.

Dell looked at Jane again. “Say, Solly,” he began, “how is Lieutenant Bites doing today?”

“He is doing great, Engie! Have a look!” And Jane held up the moth-eaten raccoon for Dell to see.

“Aww. How you doing today, little critter?” Dell pretended to pet the animal, all the while secretly collecting hairs from the rapidly shedding stuffed nightmare.

“He likes you, Engie,” smiled Jane. And Dell looked up from his surreptitious hair collecting to meet Jane’s eyes.

“Well. I like the lil’ fella too. He’s such a well behaved lil’ guy,” Dell said. He hoped Jane didn’t see the tuft of hair pinched between his fingers.

“This food is garbage. And I don’t think Soldier knows it, but that raccoon shoulda retired from service about a million years ago. It’s getting hair everywhere!” said Scout, having recovered his voice and picking up his plate to leave.

Jane looked down at the raccoon. His smile was gone.

“Don’t listen to him. Lieutenant Bites is just fine,” Dell lied. He knew that deep inside, Jane was screaming. It wouldn’t be long before the decrepit little corpse would turn into dust.

After lunch, Dell made his way back to Medic’s surgery. Medic was waiting for him.

“Did you get ze sample?” Medic asked.

  
“Yeah! I hope Jane doesn’t notice too much. That dead raccoon is missing so much hair it’d be hard to see the patch I pulled out,” said Dell.

“Vell, if you brought back tissue that is even better, but the tissue degradation and the tanning process of animal hides is very hard on DNA structure,” Medic began, slipping into his lab coat. “If ve are expecting this to vork, ve had better hope there is enough of that amino acid chain to build off of. Ve may need tissue from another animal, perhaps a live raccoon?”

“Well Doc, the closest forest is miles out. Mayhap we can make this work with some nanotechnology or perhaps we could wing in some kitten DNA-“

“Nein! That vill never do. I am sure ve can make what remaining tissues vork…” Medic whisked away the hairs and went into the Respawn room, long legs propelling him quickly, the Engineer jogging to keep up and pulling on one of Medics long lab coats. He was glad Jane wasn’t around to see him now, the tails of the lab coat dragging on the ground.

Once the Medic was busy reconstructing the DNA of the deceased raccoon, Dell made his way back to his tool shed and opened the door. “Butler S21! Where are ya, boy?” He looked around for the universal remote and once he found it, pressed the red button. The butler buzzed into the room, with a questioning beep.

“Son, we need to get to work.”

…………………………………….

 

 

 

Three days later finds Dell sitting in his toolshed, and looking at the pieces strewn on his desk. Finally, his half of the project was finished. It wasn’t too hard to keep a secret from Jane, he never asked what Dell was doing when he sat at his desk and only gave the project in its various stages a cursory glance. Even though the soldier had taken up spending more evenings just hanging out in the shop, he was too occupied with playing fetch with Butler S21.

The skittish little robot had seemed to be taking a liking to Jane, and came to him first now, when the universal remote was used. This evening though, Jane seemed a little down and declined hanging out at the shop. Dell hoped he hadn’t seemed too relived when Jane turned down the offer.

“Butler! Come on in here!” Dell looked up to see the faithful little helicopter whiz into view. It hovered expectantly, waiting for the next command.

“Will you look at this,” Dell said, and scooted back from the table a bit, even though the little robot had an excellent aerial view.

On the table was a skeleton of sorts, it had many wires wrapped around the four legs it had, and a long, skinny wire of a tail, with a grappling hook at the end of it. The little skull had green LED eyes, and amid the twisted titanium core glowed a pulsing green light. This was the power cell, something the Engineer had laying around the tool shed, a project from college days past that probably would have advanced mankind, if Dell thought people would be responsible enough to use it.

Right now, it was powering something else. A metallic robot skeleton complement to the Medic’s re-creation of the late Lieutenant Bites.

“This little fella has everything you have, Butler,” Dell said softly. He reached over to the side of the thing and touched the main switch. The robot powered up. The eyes glowed, but the robot, standing on all fours, stared straight ahead. The pulsing light faded, glowed. Faded, glowed. It was marvelous.

“Everything but a brain.” Rapping his knuckles on the table, Dell pondered the next step. Sentience was always the trick pony. If he put a new, unmapped electronic brain in this critter, there was no telling how it would react put in this powerful little skeleton. And with the biological matter (heck, it was a wrung out raccoon suit) that Medic had floating in embryonic fluid replacement in the back of his surgery, it could have the potential to go wild and feral. That would ruin everything and if real raccoons were smart, this one would take over the world. He needed a brain that knew Jane already. He looked up at the Butler.

“I might have to let you go, partner,”

The robot beeped, a somber note. He knew it was far from stupid. He knew it reacted not only to immediate danger, but to emotion, to action, and to voice command. And it had learned so much while it was a butler. Dell knew in his heart, this would be the best course of action to take with the little guy.

“I may have to upgrade your voice,” he said. The robot beeped again, lowering itself down to the table top. “I wonder what raccoons sound like,” Dell mused.

……………………………

The day dawned red in the morning. It was Friday again, and Dell picked up his toolbox and waited for the Announcer to give voice to live fire. He shifted the box to his shoulder, and looked over at his team.

Scout was ready to head out first. He was dancing in place. The boy started every day with at least six cans of Bonk. Demo was pacing, sticky launcher in hand, getting ready to booby-trap the entrances to the Intel room to buy the Engineer a little more time to get his sentries up.

Heavy and the Medic waited near the back, Medic building up his ubercharge and the Heavy spinning up his gun. It was time to fight.

Jane stood by Dell. He was ready to defend the Intel with the Engineer and could not wait to explode some spies. Lieutenant Bites wasn't much more than a gray tattered mess hanging off the soldier’s uniform. Dell was sweating bullets. The team’s BLU spy, a new guy, seemed nervous. Sniper stood by him, ready to give him a quick rundown of the situation once he had sighted the other team through his telescope. With a poker face, Sniper looked to Dell, and nodded slightly. Dell dipped his helmeted head in return. The Spy, a young Frenchman by the name of Tristan, had been informed of the covert alternative mission that the Texan and the Aussie had put together. No acknowledgement was returned. He stared straight ahead. He saw, without being seen, Dell eyeing him.

Pyro was ready to burn. With his rubber glove on his head, his “cute-suit” pulled up to his goggles, and the Rainblower at the ready, Pyro was ready to spread his attack. He wanted desperately to be by the Soldier’s side in case something went wrong. But Dell assured him they would be fine. They needed him to wreak as much distracting havoc with the opposing team in order for the plan to work.

“Hm. I wish that Pyro would come with us and defend. At least a few minutes, anyway,” Dell said. Jane said nothing at first, knowing that lucky shots only got some of the spies, but a flame quickly lit them up.

“Affinitive! However, a well place shotgun blast will easily deter any enemy,” Jane stated. Dell hoped so. But he hoped that the plan he had concocted with his teammates would go even better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to read more of Tristan the Spy, go here http://archiveofourown.org/works/3216752/chapters/7000103


	5. Strength of a Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dell's plan in action, and the chaos that follows.

 

 

Tristan was cloaked. The Enemy team was busy with Pyro, who had taken to giggling manically and swimming around in the moat at Teufort. Amid shouts of “Get that Pyro!” and “Pyroshark!”, the yelling was punctuated by screams. Pyro could swim like a fish, and was deadly when he swung that axe. Tristan sniggered a little. With that purple glove on Pyro’s head, and the goggled mask half hidden by the suit, the Pyro looked more like an anglerfish than a shark. But he was giving the REDs a hell of a challenge.

The young spy checked his watch. That Engineer should have his toys in place by now. Tristan slowly tiptoed back toward the BLU intel, and waited for a clear run.

Dell finished leveling his dispenser and looked back at his Sentry. Everything was ready and at peak performance. He looked towards Jane, who was standing near the entrance by the post board on the wall, watching the buildings Dell had erected.

“You got this, Solly?” he asked Jane.

“Affirmative.” Jane’s face was hard set. Once he had a mission, his teeth were sunk in and this soldier was vigilant. Dell smiled.

“I gotta go get more supplies, I’m running out ‘ta the supply room, ok?”

Jane gave him a curt nod. Dell ran out the door and promptly ran into a cloaked spy. “Oh, Tristan! Great, now yer here. Excellent timing. Listen, I got everything set up. What ya need to do, is go in there disguised as a RED Spy. Talk to Solly about seeing a enemy spy in th’ hall and once his back is turned, try to get that critter off his belt. Be very careful, he’s got a hair trigger when he’s on the prowl!” And Dell continued on his way, glad that the young Spy was so eager to help.

Once he got to the supply door, he ran inside and grabbed a box of batteries to refill the Rescue Ranger.  He didn’t need them, but rather than looking suspicious to Jane, returning empty-handed wasn’t an option. He wanted to be as innocent a bystander when the sleight of hand was completed. He quickly shut the cabinet door and turned to run out the supply room.

THUD! “What-the…” Dell collided with an unseen body. He ran into it so hard he tripped and fell, scattering batteries across the floor.

“Salut, labourer,” Tristan said, uncloaking as he pushed himself off of the floor. Dell grinned.

“Ah, hell Tristan. Its jest you. What’cha doin’ here, hiding until Jane calms down?”

“What are ‘ou talking about?  I ‘aven’t been in zhere yet,” Tristan brushed off his sleeves, and straightened his tie. When he looked back at Dell, he saw that the Engineer was as white as a sheet.

“Iffin’ you ain’t in there, we are in a whole lotta trouble, son,” Dell said, turning as quickly as he could and busting out his wrench. Tristan sensed the urgency in Dell’s voice and withdrew his Enforcer, but slipped on a battery and fell gracelessly on the floor.

“Com’on, son!!” Dell yelled.  “We gotta get to the Intel room-“

Dell’s voice was lost in the explosion that deafened the area. Shrapnel and fire and smoke billowed out as the RED Demo and RED Spy ran away towards the stairs, the glowing briefcase on the back of the Demoman and the smoking, tattered carcass of the late Lieutenant Bites in the gloved hand of the Red Spy. The man turned, gave a wave and flipped his cigarette at the surprised pair, and followed his teammate up the ramp ways.

“Mon dieu….” Tristain sprinted after the pair, cloaking himself and switching disguises. Dell ran towards the Intel room.

His gun was so much scrap metal, scattered everywhere. A twisted sapper smoked on the ground. His dispenser, trashed. Band-Aids, syringes, gauze scattered like confetti, all over the room, cans of cola spraying carbonated contents rolled across the floor. But none of that bothered Dell. He was looking at Jane, propped up against the wall. From the blood smear on the floor, it looked like he had drug himself from the center of the room so the side to get away from the burning desk.

“Oh, my God! Jane! Jane, can you hear me?” Dell shouted, as he ran to his friend’s side.  Jane groaned. Dell squatted down and looked Jane over. His rocket launcher was on the ground on the other side of the room. His shotgun was nowhere to be seen. “Jane! We gotta get you movin!”

Jane opened his eyes and looked at Dell. “Medic…”

“MEDIC!” Dell shouted. He knew that the rest of the team was probably trying to chase down the intelligence. That didn’t seem to bother him. The distress of his friend did. Respawn only worked when your heart stopped. You could be in pain and near death until Hell froze over. Dell didn’t like seeing his friends in pain. It especially hurt him to see Jane this way. His heart ached, his mind, scattered, the plan, forgotten.

“I’ll get my dispenser up an’ runnin’! Yeah!” Dell jumped up and ran to where the pieces were scattered and started working, scrambling the machine together.

“Engie…”

“Hang on, I’m getting her done!” The engineer swiftly worked, building the dispenser from the ground up.

“Engie…s’ ok…I..I think I’m.bleeding out. Not….much…longer…..” Jane’s voice was trailing. The dispenser was winding up, and Dell turned around. He saw Jane, propped up against the wall, and let out a pent-up breath. “There, see? I gotcha’ covered, partner!” Dell hurried over to the fallen soldier. Jane looked up at him.

“e’s gone…”

“Who’s gone? You’re right here.”

“Bites…gone…that, spy...took him away…”

Jesus. The RED spy that Dell had mistaken for Tristan, his own. Just to be a vindictive bastard, he took Lieutenant Bites away from the disabled soldier as they left. If it wasn’t one goddamn thing it was another.

“Goddammit. Well, we will rescue that critter once we get you up and runnin’. I promise!”

“I’m…bigger…than you. Engie. You…not strong…”Jane whispered out the words breathlessly.

Dell pulled Jane’s arm over his shoulder, and pushed with his legs. He bared his teeth in a grimace and Jane screamed out in pain as his wounds separated. Blood washed down Jane’s back and over Dell’s arm, and Dell hoped that Jane could hang on for a few more seconds.

“Come on, Soldier! COMON! UGH! If I can get your ass of the ground, you can walk a few feet t’the dispenser! Come on!”

Dell staggered under Jane’s weight, the man was 6’2” and all muscle. He seemed to sag with every step. “Almost there, partner!”

Dell felt the caress of the healing radiation as they finally got next to the machine. He expected Jane to stand straighter and thrum with renewed energy, but Jane’s body slumped off of his shoulder and fell to the ground. Dell looked down at his fallen soldier, the rugged, beautiful, fragile, face relaxed in death, and the blood from multiple stab wounds in his back pool on the floor around him. _Multiple_ stab wounds.

Dell saw RED.

………………

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, here is the Archive story for Tristan the spy, in case you missed it :)   
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3216752/chapters/7000103


	6. Soldier’s Retribution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dell had tried to make it a smooth, sweet surprise for his soldier, but didn't expect a RED Spy to throw a monkey wrench into the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second half of Tristan appears here as Nicholas Mundy. Taco had named him that before she realized the Valve character had a first name. Sorry for ruffling any feathers out there. They are a cute couple though.

 

Nicolas Mundy was surveying the battlefield through his scope. A RED sniper, he was not new to the job of picking off the enemy team, but had a particular vendetta against the BLU Sniper. As he watched the front of the BLU battlements, he saw his Demo sticky-jumping off the edge with the BLU intel on his back. “Good job, mate,” he said, under his breath. Then he scanned the empty battlement to see if any enemies where chasing the Demoman.

All of the sudden, he watched as his RED Spook ran off  the edge of the enemy battlements, with what looked like a wad of mangy fur or a dead cat or something. Why he of all people had that in his mitt, the Sniper had no clue.

Behind his teammate, he saw a blur of blue movement. The RED Spy stopped and turned around, but the blue blur disappeared before he saw anything.

 The RED Spy seemed to shrug it off and continued on his way back, but Nicolas saw that blur out in his peripheral again. Nicholas lowered his rifle and let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. A few minutes later, he heard a familiar creak behind him.

“I knew you were coming here, Spooky.” Nicholas turned his head over his right shoulder to see his BLU friend, Tristan the Spy.

“’Ello, my friend,” Tristan uncloaked and stood in the corner. He was slightly out of breath. “’Ave you seen the RED Spy go by ‘ere? I ‘ave been tailing him, trying to get bach somezing he has stolen.”

“The… briefcase? Our Demo had that…”

“Eheh… non. Et probably looked like a wad of pre-chewed newspaper… “

“Oh!” the Sniper lighted upon the realization. “Come to think of it, I was wonderin’ why the scoundrel was carryin’ that piece o’ fuzzy hard-tack ta begin wit.”

Tristan visibly cringed at the mental image he received. Honestly, he didn’t really want it, but this was important to the Engineer and vital to the Soldier. And he wanted to help no matter what. “It actually is somezing important, and I need it back. Do you think you can ‘elp, sil vous plait?”

The RED Sniper smiled. If he could do a favor for Tristan, that would put Tristan in the position of being indebted to him. As he harbored a special feeling for the lad, Nicolas felt that he had won the jackpot. Tristan had no idea what he was getting himself into.

“‘Oy! Spook!” Nicolas walked into the spawn entryway behind the battlement. The RED Spy was bagging the remains as he sniggered the story of the prize to the RED Scout.

“Oui?” The RED Spy was smiling. Nicholas glared at him.

“I heard you lowered yourself to petty thievery, ya wanker,” Nicholas growled. The RED Spy sneered back at him.

“So what. Zat imbecile got what was coming to him.”

“But ya stole his bleedin’ pet!”

“Zat “thing” ees his pet? Preposterous! Ou’ would keep such a sad caricature of a creature as a pet!” The Red spy held the bag out in front of him like it was garbage.

“Give it to me, and I’ll make sure it gets back to him.” Nicholas said. He stared hard at the spy.

“Do ‘ou know how many times that “rocketman” has killed me? Innumerable! No one accidently kills moi! But zat simpleton has blasted me too many times! Non! I will not give eet to ‘ou!”

Nicholas never broke eye contact. His aviators hid his malice and, before the man knew it, the RED Spy was up against the wall, choking, as the impatient sniper pushed the blunt side of his Kurikuri against the Frenchman’s windpipe.

“Now. Give. Me. The bag.”

The Red spy dropped the bag. Just as suddenly, the sniper released him and he dropped to the floor.

Nicolas picked up the sack and started towards the door.

“Wait!” the Red Spy called, coughing.

Nicholas paused.

“What do you expect to receive for returning this prize pet, might I ask?”

The sniper growled under his breath as he went through the door.

“What anyone wants. A pet ‘o my own.”

………………………………………..

 

 

Jane was in a dark place. It was warm, and there was a whooshing sound, rolling like the ocean all around him. Blinking didn’t clear away the dark, but it helped him focus on the immediate situation. He wasn’t standing or sitting or lying down, but floating, as in the ocean. It was comforting.

What was he doing here? Where was this place? Who was he?

The next blink-white, blinding light. Jane screamed! It was so sudden. The air cold. His body, exposed and prickly, and what was that noise? The weight of his body was sudden and immense, compared to the weightless mass his identity was just seconds ago.

“Ah, Zhere he is. Velcome back, Herr Doe!” Medic smiled at Jane, who had just a second or two ago, rematerialized in the Respawn chamber.

Dell stood next to Medic, his yellow helmet off of his head and clamped in his hands. His goggles were up on his forehead, and he had the most concerned look on his face. Jane looked through the plexiglass walls of the chamber at both of the men. Normally no one waited for Respawn to work. He stepped through the sliding chamber door and out onto the platform.

“What are you two waiting for? There are enemies everywhere in the Intel! We must head out and destroy them before they destroy us!” Jane strode barefoot to the lockers where his uniforms were kept. Medic looked at Dell, who was trying, but failing to keep from looking at the naked Soldier, as he ruffled through his clothes for something.

“What! Where is he?”

“Oh, God, here we go-,“ Dell cringed behind his helmet.

“WHERE IS LIEUTENANT BITES?!? WHERE IS MY RACCOON? AAAAUUUUGHHH!” The soldier tore through the locker, ripping the doors off and throwing crates. ”HE”S GONE! HE”S GOOOOOONE!” Howling, the Soldier stormed through the room, upending everything not bolted to the floor.

 “Yes, uh-hm, It’s OK, Herr Doe. Ok now,” Medic hummed under his breath and deftly stepped up next to Jane’s rampaging form, uncapped a syringe, and pushed it into the man’s neck.

“He’s GONE! HE”S GONE! Gone. Gone, that turn-cloak got him. Gone……gone…” panting, Jane’s eyes dilated and he sagged onto the tiles. Dell rushed to his side and covered the man with a blanket.

“Did’ja have to tranq him, Doc?” Dell looked up at his friend, the hurt in his eyes threatening to spill. Dell didn’t care. He felt that everything had gone south so damn fast, and it was supposed to be a special surprise. The doctor looked down at the two men on the floor, and the older man’s features returned to a more kindly expression. He saw the love Dell had for his American Soldier. It was sweet. The Medic remembered his days of courting the giant Soviet bear of a man, Heavy. It was such a beautiful time in their lives.

Jane’s body had relaxed considerably, but kept he growling every other breath or so. His eyes were heavy-lidded.

“He is in a delicate position, Herr Conagher. His pet is missing, and we are about to present him with an upgraded clone. It is best ve don’t drop it on him all at once. I prescribe him to bed, to recuperate.” The Medic put a hand on Dell’s shoulder. “And I vould recommend zat you stay by his side. He listens to you best. He respects you, and dare I say, trusts you? Try to keep him in good spirits, comrade.” The doctor walked away. Dell looked again at his soldier.

“Dammit, Dell, Why did’ja have to go and try to meddle in things?” he asked himself. “I shoulda just let the damn raccoon disintegrate on his belt. It’s all my fault I got Jane so riled up.” Dell hung his head. He felt a large hand on his shoulder, and when he looked up, he saw Heavy.

“I will carry Soldier to room,” he said, and he gently and easily lifted the blanket-wrapped Jane off the floor.

…………………………

In the stairwell of the RED base, the RED Spy sulked. That filthy, piss-jar throwing bushman. How dare he lay a finger on the best RED team member? If it weren’t for him, his RED team wouldn’t get any wins. That BLU engineer and the blithering idiot soldier that had taken to sticking around the guns on the BLU base…they were the worst pair that the RED Spy had taken up a grudge against. And now his petit sack of revenge had been confiscated by that lanky, long-faced, crooked-toothed Australian. Merde…

*tink-tink-tink!* What was that sound? It almost sounded like an Engineer building…The Red Spy slunk down the stairs toward his Intelligence room. He saw the glow of a BLU teleporter exit. “Hon-hon-hon..” he chuckled under his breath. He switched his disguise to an enemy soldier, and walked into the room.

Dell turned to see Jane standing behind him, Liberty Launcher parked on his shoulder and the deadpan thousand-yard stare Jane used in battle. Dell smiled at the man.

“Hey Soldier!” What’ya think? No one is guarding the RED Intel, so I snuck over here an’ put up a tele. You wanna do the honors?”

The RED Spy said nothing, but the engineer stared at him.

“Or maybe y’all could just, y’know, hang out here with me,” Dell slowly walked toward the man. The Spy stood his ground. Dell stopped, inches from the soldier’s face. “Ya know, we are all alone here,” the Texan reached up and brushed a bit of lint off the sleeve of the soldier’s uniform. The man grunted a neutral response. What was the Engineer playing at? The Red spy felt a trickle of sweat running down his forehead, behind the mask.

“Remember that night, under the stars? We shared a lot of good times,” Dell paused. He looked up at Jane’s face. That one thousand yard stare. He continued.

“I told ya a lot about myself. And ya told me some about yourself. But ya know, body language speaks a lot about what a person is, well, _really_ sayin’. Know what I mean, Soldier?”

“Yes,” the Soldier/Spy said. The Spy felt three more trickles of sweat, and hoped it wasn’t visible to the Engineer. He stood his ground, hoping that staying still instead of running was a good choice of strategy.

Dell’s ears pricked at the response. A red flush started at his neck, creeping upward. But he continued staring into the face of the Soldier.

“I wanted to tell you so much more,” he said breathlessly, grasping the handle of his Jag at his side. He held up the wrench and the Soldier didn’t even flinch. But Dell noted the sweat running down the sides of the man’s face, trickling between the stubble and getting absorbed by the short beard.

“We can continue this lil’ talk, ‘iffin ya want. For you, I got all th’ time in the world,” Dell drawled his words harder, putting emphasis on every Jane-based noun. He really wanted to tell him so many things. Practice in front of a mirror, he thought to himself, and you will get the confidence you need for when the real moment came.

“No,” the Soldier said.

“That’s not what I was expectin’ ta hear,” Dell smiled, and in a swift, single flowing motion picked up the soldier by the neck against the wall with his ungloved hand. He held his wrench threateningly up to the soldier’s face. The disguise flickered.

“Oh, Soldier. Where is your pet raccoon? I expected to see him here, but he’s not hanging off your coat,” Dell growled, questioningly. The RED Spy choked out something.

“What was that? Don’t use th’ wrench? Oh, Ok. I’ve got other tools you can pick from,”

Dell let the wrench and his glove drop off the end of his arm. The Spy cringed. Dell had a mechanical hand that he held up for the Spy to see.

“Ya see this, partner? I built this with my left hand. An’ guess what?”

The Spy’s eyes widened.

“I’m right-handed,”

Dell’s mechanical hand started to spin, metal digits fanning out to make a deadly spinning blade. Dell held it closer to the Spy. The Spy’s disguise flickered.

“No-non, Engineer! I beg you!”

“I want that critter _back_ , Spy.”

“I-I..don’t have eet,”

“Where?” Dell pushed the spy harder up the wall. The Spy’s disguise phased out completely, and the warning sounds from Dell’s sentry sounded. Dell kept his eyes on the RED Spy as the bullets ripped through him and into the Spy’s body. It hurt, but not as much as the hurt of watching Jane struggle on the floor of his home base, frothy blood gathered at the corners of his mouth, and the most agonizing expression of pain and loss on his face. Dell coughed out blood and continued to smile manically through bloody teeth at the Spy who was riddled with bullets that tore through Dell’s chest, and they both collapsed to the floor.

………..……………


	7. A soldier's love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thrilling conclusion, dear readers.

Dell stepped out of the Respawn, defeat in his soul. He didn’t know if Jane would ever forgive him for losing the little raccoon. There was no way he could get around not telling the soldier the truth. And Dell’s Grandpappy always stressed the fact that a Conagher was only as good as his word. Even if the cybernetic raccoon could win the soldiers’ love, Dell might never regain his trust.

He reached into his locker and pulled out his new set of clothes. A piece of paper gently floated to the floor. Dell bent over and picked it up. A note.

Dell read it, and a grin spread across his face. He hurriedly put on his shirt, overalls and boots, and hustled out the door.

As Dell approached his toolshed, he heard a commotion inside. He opened the door and looked to the back of the room where a bucket of bolts had crashed to the floor. His floor robot was busy bustling around, sucking up the bolts and filling the bucket. He looked up to the tabletop and saw Tristan.

“”Elp! That thing on the floor, it has attacked me!”

“What, my robot? He wouldn’t attack anything, he’s ‘just a picker-upper, a vacuum,”

Dell strode over to the robot and picked it up and switched it off.

“If you snuck in here and the robot didn’t see ya, but only sensed th’ vibrations, maybe he thought you were a mess,” Dell said. Tristan looked dubiously at the robot in Dell’s hands.

“I think not,” Tristan sniffed.

“So, you got the Lieutenant? Where is the ‘coon?”

Tristan pulled out from behind his back a canvas bag. He held it out to Dell, who grabbed it eagerly and looked inside. He immediately wished he hadn’t.

“I am…extremely sorry,” Tristan began. Dell looked at the spy. The man was usually such a dapper little fellow, but he looked like he had been put through the wringer.

“Ah, I really appreciate what you’ve done, Spah. I really do,” and before Tristan could object, Dell leaned over the table and gathered the young man into his arms and gave him a great big hug. Tristan stiffened at first, but accepted the hug for he knew the seriousness behind the nature of his retrieval.

Dell finally let go, but as he looked back at the Spy he saw a red mark on Tristan’s neck. “Oh! You got hurt too? I truly am sorry, son!”

“Huh? Tristan looked at the Engineer, and realized where Dell’s eyes were focused. He smoothed his baklava down. “Ets nothing,”

After a second or two, Dell thoughtfully shook his head, and smiled at the Spy. “Naw, it’s not. It’s everything in the world,”

He picked up his remote and the canvas bag and ran out the door.

 

………………………………….

 

 

 “Now don’t you worry, little fella. You are going to have a fantastic new body in a little while. This has been a big week for you hasn’t it? You’ve been a champ so far, with the brain transplant.”

Dell picked up the little robot skeleton. He carried it from Medic’s office where he had stored it in preparation for the time to put the biological material, the raccoon body, over it. “There’s nothing to be frightened of. Soon, the next time I power you up, you will never be shut down again, and you will be able to do everything you used to do, only better. Think of it as an all-terrain upgrade, Butler,”

Dell calmed the little titanium machine. The robot expressed concern in a melodious tone that sounded like a chirruping whistle, and while Dell wasn’t sure if that was what raccoons sounded like, he was sure that Jane would be able to decipher all the sounds in short order. And Butler would learn many more.

With care, he powered down Butler, and took the finished robot skeleton and titanium core to the surgery wing, and he and Medic spent the next three hours attaching the cloned raccoon tissue to the titanium frame of the robot. Dell held his breath as he powered up the robot. When he withdrew his hand, Butler looked up with new, glowing green eyes. He chirruped excitedly at Dell.

“He is so cute! Oh! Vat a vunderbar creature you are!” Medic chirped and hooted over the cybernetic raccoon. Dell beamed.

“Do ya think he’ll like it?”

“Ja! He is so cute, ve might have to build more, ja?”

Butler, formerly S21, stood up again easily. He had four legs and paws, a tail and interestingly enough, an opening in his back to launch his rotors. His head swiveled around and he blinked his green eyes at the Medic, and at Dell. He tweeted happily at the Engineer.

“See, I told ya you’d be all right! Look at’cha. Ain’t you a beauty? Look at all that fur, and I bet you didn’t even know, your grappling hook is in your tail, you can shoot it out the tip there and pick up stuff like ya use’ta.”

Butler sat up and extended his paws up at the Medic and the Engineer. He chirruped again.

“Well, now, you have a different role in life. I don’t want you for fetch for me anymore. Your new job is Jane. Whatever he wants or needs, your new mission is to see that you are there for him. You think you can handle that, lil’ fella?”

Butler cocked his head and whistled, which had Medic swooning. “Ach, he is so cute! Ja, ve definitely need to patent this idea!” Dell grinned from ear to ear.

“Butler, are ya ready to make someone really happy?

Butler hopped up and down, squeaking and chirping. He jumped into Dell’s arms.

“Ok, lil’ critter. It’s showtime,”

 

…………………………………

 

 

There was a gentle knock at the door, and Pyro sat up from his chair besides’ Jane’s bed. “Mrrph,” he said.

Dell opened the door. “Any change?”

“Mrrph mrrph.” Pyro shook his head sadly. Dell came inside and shut the door.

“It’s ok, Pyro. I got him for now.” Dell pulled a chair up next to the bed as the Pyro nodded, and shuffled out the door.

Jane lay in the bed, snoring slightly. The tranquilizer had worn off hours ago, but sheer exhaustion kept Jane in a state of heavy sleep. Dell looked over at the dozing man.

“Jane, Jane, Jane. I am so God-awful sorry,” Dell began, whispering his words. He wanted to hold Jane, but was afraid to wake him up, and then have to explain to him all that had transpired. This was a problem that the Engineer had no plan for. To win the heart of his Soldier, confess to tricking him, and giving him gifts abounding. How do you go about such a thing?

Dell had no idea. He had never really pursued any relationship before, much less with another man. But his love was deafening. He adored Jane. Simply adored him. A tear tricked down his cheek as he set his jaw. Why was this so hard?

“Jane. To tell you of all the things I feel would take forever. I wish I wasn’t so afraid of losing you,” He sighed, and leaned back in his chair.

“Please do.”

Dell froze.

He couldn’t hear the gentle breath of the Soldier snoring anymore.

“Engie?”

“Uh, yea, Jane?”

“What where you going to tell me?” Jane started to sit up in the bed and reached over to turn on the light. Dell felt trapped all of the sudden.

“I was dreaming,” Jane said. His voice was a tenth the sound it usually was, and very hoarse. “I dreamt that you and I were walking under the moon.”

“Well, that’s mighty nice,” Dell responded. He couldn’t drag up the words to tell Jane, he didn’t want Jane to feel any more pain.

“You kept talking about my raccoon. You said you were sorry, but he was gone. He was dead.”

Dell cringed in his seat. This was almost more painful than trying to figure out how to explain everything to Jane.

“Everyone thought that I was crazy. Mad. A nutcase.” Jane said. He turned toward Dell. “But you. You pretended for me. You pretended that he was alive. I cannot begin to tell you how much that has meant to me.” Jane’s eyes locked with Dell’s. Jane looked puzzled. “Why are you crying, Dell?”

“Gosh-darn it all, I am so sorry! Jane! I am so sorry that Lieutenant Bites is dead! I had no idea how to go about helping ya!” Dell sobbed. He knew he must look like a fool, a crybaby, but he didn’t care about that anymore. If he held it in any longer he felt he might burst.

“I wanted so much for everything to work out, but, shit happened, Jane, and you got hurt.”

Dell stood up and sat on the bed, closer to Jane. If he pushed him away, Dell would fall. And fall forever.

“I tried to surprise you, and I wanted to get Lieutenant Bites away from you before he disintegrated in your hands. It was hurting you so much, Jane, to see your pet like that, and every time I see that in your face, well, it kills me! I love you…!” And Dell stopped talking, it had fallen out of his mouth and he could never, never unsay it. His hands went up to his mouth, to keep anything else from falling out.

Jane stared at him.

“Where is he?” Jane said.

Silently, Dell got up and picked up the bag from the floor, where he had set it. He put it up on the bed and stepped back.

Jane looked at the bag, and again up at Dell, tears welling up in his eyes.

Dell’s jaw worked, but words weren’t coming out. “I’m so sorry…,” he managed. Jane took the bag in his hands, and held it close. He opened it and looked inside, then closed it and squeezed his eyes shut, hugging the bag close to him.

Dell looked up at the ceiling, panting. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. His eyes kept going to Jane sitting on the bed, and back to the floor, then back to the ceiling, waiting for something, some sound, anything at all from Jane that would clue him in on what to do.

At long last, Jane looked up from his burden to look at Dell.

“You rescued him for me,” Jane whispered hoarsely.

“There’s more to it than that,” Dell rasped.

“You did your duty, you never stopped. A soldier never leaves his brethren behind.”

“Jane-“

Jane reached out to grab Dell. He crushed him in his arms, and sobbed into Dell’s chest. So much relief rushed out of Dell’s lungs and came out as nonsense words, as the soldier clung to him and wailed. Dell stroked Jane’s back as he soothed his soldier, and Jane wept and wept. Dell kept singing though, and Jane finally stopped his grieving.

“Engie.”

“Yeah Jane?”

“Thank you,”

Dell sighed.

“No problem, Solly.”

Jane sat up.

“I have one other thing to show ya,” Dell said. He handed Jane the remote. “Do you remember Butler? He misses you. You should see ‘iffin he comes when you press th’ button.”

Jane took the proffered remote. He smiled a little at Dell, and pressed the red button.

A whistling chirrup answered the call from behind the door, and Dell went over and opened it.

Jane looked in the doorway, but didn’t see the helicopter fly in. “Engie, where is-“

The blankets pulled taught at the foot of the bed as something clambered up the side. Jane stared at the foot of his bed.

Two fuzzy ears appeared at the edge. Jane’s’ eyes were wide. Two glowing green eyes met his, and another whistle sounded as the little cybernetic raccoon waddled up from the base of the bed to Jane, and sat down in front of him. Butler stretched out his paws towards Jane.

“Oh! Oh my God!” Jane stuttered. His eyes glistened with happiness. He gathered up the raccoon in his arms, and Butler hooted. Jane laughed hard. And Dell beamed from ear to ear.

Jane cradled Butler in his lap and examined the cybernetic raccoon. He looked at his paws when Butler wasn’t grasping his fingers, and looked at his nose, the black mask around the green eyes, the rings on his tail. Finally Jane spoke to Dell.

“It’s him. I don’t know how you did it, but it’s him. It’s my raccoon.”

Dell laughed. “Well, mostly. It is him, genetically. But trust me, it really is Butler in there. He just never had paws before.”

Jane laughed and cuddled the raccoon. “Lieutenant Butler! That’s his name now. You have been promoted, Butler!” They both laughed at that, and Lieutenant Butler looked at both men in turn, grinning a little raccoon grin.

Dell excused himself from the pair and went to the mess hall. It was his week to cook, but he had been neglecting his duty in trying to get his personal life and Jane back on track. Pyro had stood in for him, and he was again grateful for having such great friends on his team. As he went to the back of the kitchen, Pyro came out of the prep room with two foil wrapped plates. He handed them to Dell.

“Aw, Pyro, I’m sorry. I was coming to see if I could finish up for ya.”

“Naw, we totally had it under control. I helped him,” Scout said. He came out of the prep room too, wiping his hands on a flowery apron. Dell looked at the Scout. Scout looked down at the apron. “Hey, don’t judge,” the kid said. “Pyro insisted that I wear it,”

“Well, thanks fellas. I appreciate it,”

“Mrrph mrrph mrrph!” Pyro hooted.

“What did he say?” Dell asked the Scout.

“He says we are going out to the bonfire tonight at Snipers’ camp,” Scout said. “You guys oughta come, if you are done makin’ out in there,”

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea,” mused Dell. “Sure. Sounds like fun,”

“What, the bonfire, or makin’ out?”

“Both,” laughed Dell, and the Scout made gagging sounds and Pyro flapped his arms. God those kids are fun, thought Dell, as he took the plates back to the infirmary.

Epilogue

Under the stars, Dell sat on a blanket and strummed his guitar as Lieutenant Butler rolled from one end to the other, much to the delight of Jane. There wasn’t any happier place he’d rather be. Dell sang “Wonderful Tonight”, and several other songs he thought of while thinking about his Soldier.

The BLU teammates, Sniper, Scout, and Pyro had been playing a game of catch around the fire, and then they called for Lieutenant Butler to play too, which the little raccoon did quite happily, and Jane smiled after him. He then looked down to the cowboy on the blanket and nudged him. Dell looked up at the soldier. Jane gestured away from the bonfire with a nod of his head. Dell put down the guitar and stood up, and dusted off his pants. He strode over to Jane, and the two walked out into the starlight. Jane put an arm over Dell’s shoulders.

“Dell,” said Jane. Dell looked up at the Soldier.

Jane turned to face Dell. “I remember what you said to me.” Dell’s heart swelled, and pounded in his ears.

“Yeah,”

“I love you too.”

It was the most beautiful starry night in Dell’s life.

 

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hoped you enjoyed this. I wrote it all over the last three days, and obsessed over it. The kudos and hits really make it enjoyable to write for y'all, and who knows what the future will bring?  
> I have a tumblr and if y'all want, come on by and say hi.  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/blackberrydowns


End file.
